Sweet hour of prayer, 361. ? Sweet air of prayer, sweet air
of prayer ? ? That calls me from a world of care ? ? And bids
me at my Father's throne ? ? Make all my wants and wishes known
? In seasons of distress and grief, My soul has often found
relief, And oft escaped a tempter's snare By thy return, sweet hour
of prayer. ? Sweet hour of prayer, sweet
hour of prayer ? ? Thy wings shall my petition bear ? ? To
him whose truth and faithfulness ? ? Engage the waiting soul to
bless ? Since he bids me seek his face, Believe his word and
trust his grace, I'll cast on him my every care, And wait for
the sweet hour of prayer. ? Sweet hour of prayer, sweet
hour of prayer ? May I thy consolation share ? Till from Mount Pisgah's
lofty height I view my home and take my flight. This robe of flesh I'll drop
and rise to seize the everlasting prize and shout while passing
through the air, farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer. Thank you. Turn with me again this week
to Lamentations 3. I'm going to pick up where we
left off last week. Lamentations 3, and we're going
to start in verse 34. To crush under his feet all the
prisoners of the earth, to turn aside the right of a man before
the face of the Most High, to subvert a man in his cause, the
Lord approveth not. Who is he that saith, and it
cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not? Out of the
mouth of the Most High proceedeth not evil and good? Wherefore
doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. Let
us lift up our heart with our hands under God in the heavens.
We have transgressed and have rebelled. Thou has not pardoned. Thou has covered with anger and
persecuted us. Thou has slain, thou has not
pitied. Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud that our prayer
should not pass through. Thou hast made us as the off-scouring
and refuse in the midst of the people. All of our enemies have
opened their mouths against us. Fear and a snare has come upon
us, desolation and destruction. Mine eye runneth down with rivers
of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not without any intermission,
till the Lord look down and behold from heaven. Mine eye affected
mine heart because of all the daughters of my city. Mine enemies
chasten me sore like a bird without cause. They have cut off my life
in the dungeon and cast a stone upon me. Waters flowed over mine
head, then I said, I am cut off. I have called upon thy name,
O Lord, out of the low dungeon. Thou hast heard my voice. Hide
not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry. Thou drewest near
in the day that I called upon thee. Thou saidst, fear not.
O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul. Thou hast
redeemed my life. O LORD, thou hast seen my wrong.
Judge thou my cause. Thou hast seen all their vengeance
and all the imaginations against me. Thou hast heard their reproach,
O LORD, and their imaginations against me. The lips of those
that rose up against me and their device against me all the day.
Behold, they're sitting down and they're rising up. I am their
music. Render unto them a recompense,
O Lord, according to the work of their hands. Give them sorrow
of heart, thy curse unto them. Persecute and destroy them in
anger from under the heavens of the Lord. Let's pray. Father, we come to you again
this morning thankful for this chapter of scripture. And Father,
we're thankful for the comforting words at the end. As we know
that you do hear our cry, you hear the cry of the people of
your elect, you hear the cry of your people. And Father, we
just ask that you watch over and care for the people in this
church and throughout all the churches, Father, that are preaching
the gospel this morning. We ask that all their eyes be
opened and hearts be opened. And Father, we're again just
thankful for a place to come to worship and a pastor that
you've chosen to send us. And Father, we ask that, as always,
you have this church grow at your discretion. And Lord, whether
it be 10 or 10,000, may the gospel always be preached here. And
Father, we just ask that you watch over and care for us in
Christ's name. Let's sing 40, number 40. Great is thy faithfulness. Number
40. It is Thy faithfulness, O God
my Father. There is no shadow of turning
with Thee. Thou changest not, Thy compassions
they fail not. As Thou hast been, Thou forever
wilt be. Great is thy faithfulness, great
is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies
I see. All I have needed thy hand hath
provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord,
unto me. ? Summer and winter and springtime
and harvest ? ? Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
? ? Join with all nature in manifold witness ? ? To thy great faithfulness,
mercy and love ? Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies
I see. All I have needed thy hand hath
provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord,
unto me. Pardon for pain and good peace
that endureth, Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide,
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, Blessings
all mine with ten thousand beside, ? Great is thy faithfulness ?
? Great is thy faithfulness ? ? Morning by morning new mercies I see
? ? All I have needed thy hand hath provided ? ? Great is thy
faithfulness Lord unto me ? Good morning. Okay, let's turn to the book
of Judges. Judges chapter 1, so this is
after Deuteronomy, then Joshua, then Judges. We're going to be
looking at verses 3 through 7. Now here in our text today, We
see Judah, and Judah takes Simeon with him up into his lot, up
into Judah's lot, and promises to help Simeon with his lot,
to gain his lot. And the Lord defeats their enemies,
including an enemy king named Adonai Bezik. and that one typifies
the evil one and the false gospel. Now, in this account, as we're
reading this, we see a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. We see him who takes his sinful
brethren up into his lot with him. And He prepares a place
for them with Him, giving them an inheritance in the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself. And we see our Lord and our Savior,
that He is our Deliverer from all our enemies and all our foes,
and He justly condemns them who stand opposed to us. For God
sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin
condemned sin in the flesh. It has no more rule or reign
over us anymore, brethren. And Christ takes us out from
bondage and sets us free, giving us a rich, abundant inheritance
in him. I've titled the message, Come
Up With Me Into My Lot. Come up with me into my lot. Now, we must remember as we're
reading this account here that we are to carry forward the sight
of Christ, which we see typified in the tribe of Judah. Our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ, is called in the scriptures the
Lion of the tribe of Judah. And speaking to Judah when Jacob
was blessing his 12 sons, he foretold that unto him shall
the gathering of the people be. That is, the Christ should come
through the tribe of Judah. And Jesus of Nazareth did indeed
come. He did spring from the tribe
of Judah through Mary. Now being appointed by God, In
Judges 1 verse 2, the Lord said, Judas shall go up. Behold, I
have delivered the land into his hand. And to this, our Lord
confirms what the Father has given to him. All power is given
unto me in heaven and in earth. He is sovereign, ruler over all,
implementing the will and purpose of God in heaven and in earth. Then we read in verse 3, Judges
1-3, And Judah said unto Simeon his brother, Come up with me
into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites. And I
likewise will go with thee into thy lot. So Simeon went with
him. So here we're given to see in
Judah, and turning to Simeon his brother and saying, come
up with me into my lot that we may fight against the Canaanites,
we see a picture of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And
we, brethren, we're pictured in Simeon. We're pictured in
Simeon. Now, who is Simeon? Simeon is
the second-born son to Jacob and Leah. He's Jacob's second
son. And he was born to both Jacob
and Leah. And we read in Genesis 29, verse 33, that Leah conceived
again a second time and bear a son and said, because the Lord
hath heard, I was hated. He hath therefore given me this
son also, and she called his name Simeon." And that's what
the name Simeon means. It means hearing. For God heard
that Leah was hated because Jacob loved Rachel. He didn't want
to marry Leah. Laban had deceived him, beguiled
him, and snuck Leah in when he thought he was marrying Rachel. And so Leah was hated compared
to Rachel. And so now Simeon and his brother
Levi, those two had done very wickedly. They did something
that was very awful and wrong. And it grieved Jacob very much
because together they brought trouble upon Jacob. They brought
him to worry and fear that he was going to be destroyed by
the other inhabitants of Canaan. What happened was they revenged
their sister Dinah. There was a man who did wrong,
who did wickedly himself. And he took Dinah, and he lay
with her. And he defiled Dinah. And that
man's name was Shechem. He's the son of Hamor, the Hivite
prince of the country where Jacob and his family were dwelling.
And Shechem did wrong in defiling Dinah. He should not have done
that. But the scriptures tell us that
he loved her and he wanted to marry her. And he went to the
family and asked to marry Dinah. It's said that his soul clave
unto Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel and spake
kindly unto the damsel. That can be found in Genesis
34, 3. And so these two brothers, Simeon and Levi, they deceived
Shechem and the men that were under his rule. They said, well,
If you're going to marry our sister, you have to be circumcised
because you're unclean. So you need to be circumcised
after the manner of Moses. And they agreed. They agreed
to do it because Shechem loved Dinah and wanted to marry her.
They would become one with the tribe of Jacob. And when they
had received the circumcision in their flesh, being wounded
and recovering, that's when Simeon and Levi fell upon them and slew
all the men with the sword. They killed all the men of their
tribe or village. And so Jacob was grieved with
this. And he, when it came time for
him to bless his sons, He instead said the following in Genesis
49, 5. Why don't you turn there so you
can see it. Genesis 49, verses 5 through
11. And Jacob said, so he spoke of Reuben,
the firstborn, and then Simeon and Levi are brethren. Instruments
of cruelty are in their habitations, or in their dwellings. Oh, my
soul, come not thou into their secret, unto their assembly. Mine honor, be not thou united,
for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will
they digged down a wall. Cursed be their anger, for it
was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide
them, or I will take out a portion for them from within another,
from within another, in Jacob and scatter them in Israel."
That is, that they would be absorbed by the greater part of the tribes
to which they're scattered or divided into. And so the first
true blessing of Jacob didn't fall until his fourth son, Judah. And Judah was blessed of Jacob
to be the tribe from which the Christ would spring, from which
Christ would come forth, which was Mary. And so that one, Judah
was a great tribe. And Judah was a strong tribe
and a mighty tribe. And they received a greater inheritance,
a very large portion in the land of Canaan. And within that portion
was Simeon placed. Simeon was put inside the portion
given to Judah. And so when it came time for
Joshua to give out the lots according to each tribe, a division which
fell entirely to Judah, out of that was carved out a portion
for Simeon. And it says in Joshua 19 verse
1, It says, the second lot came
forth to Simeon. So some tribes at this time had
already taken their lot. There was Reuben and Gad and
the half-tribe of Manasseh on the other side of the River Jordan. And he was giving the portions
out to the others. I think he had just done Benjamin.
And so the second lot came forth to Simeon, even for the tribe
of the children of Simeon, according to their families and their inheritance. was within the inheritance of
the children of Judah. And if you ever look at a map
of what they believe to be the portions given to each tribe,
you'll notice that Simeon is the only tribe that is completely
enveloped or engulfed by one single tribe. They're completely
surrounded and wrapped by Judah all about them. All the other
tribes I might be bordering two or three other tribes, but Simeon
is the only one that's completely embedded within Judah. And so
Judah here in our text, being a type of Christ, he turns not
to Reuben, the firstborn son, that one who pictures the corrupt
flesh descending from Adam, being born of fallen Adam, but he turns
to the secondborn. the son of God's hearing. And Judah says to his sinful
and cruel brother, who was scattered in Israel, Judah being the stronger,
greater tribe, turns to the weaker, smaller tribe of Simeon. And
he says very graciously, come up with me, my brother. Come
up into my lot. with me, that we may fight against
the Canaanites, and I likewise will go with thee into thy lot."
So Simeon went with him. Now it may be hard for us to
enter into the challenge that was facing Simeon, but he was
a smaller and weaker tribe. And it would have been impossible
for him to fight his way through Judah's inheritance just to be
able to get to his own inheritance. And he would have been whittled
down to nothing by the time he got to the place that was his
and would have been no more. And so Judah shows his brother
great grace and kindness, saying to him, come up with me, my brother. Come up with me into my lot and
help me. and I'll help you get your lot
afterwards. And in this we see a picture
of our Savior who is stronger and mightier and greater than
we. We the weaker who could never
ever have accomplished and gotten our inheritance in that spiritual
land of Canaan. We would have failed and fallen
short of it had not the greater Son, the Brother, the Mighty
God and Savior did for us, brought us in with Himself to gain for
us an inheritance with And so we read these gospel declarations
of what our Lord did for us in conquering our foes and putting
to death our enemies and for securing our inheritance. We
read these gospel declarations of what he did in this manner
for us in places like Romans chapter six. Why don't you turn
there in Romans six, verses five and six. And so we read in Romans 6 verse
5, for if we have been planted together in the likeness of Christ's
death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man
is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth we should not serve sin or labor under fear
of death and punishment of sin. And so Christ took us unto himself,
and he carried us in his conquering of all our foes, in his defeating
all our foes. We were in him. We were taken
up by him. When he went forth, the mighty
conqueror, the servant of our God, to do for us what we could
not do in delivering ourselves, what we could not accomplish
or gain by our own works, our Lord and Savior, the mighty God
and Savior, gained the victory and made us partakers with Him
in His victory. And Paul says again in Galatians
2.20, I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. And so we're the weak and the
sinful simian. We deserve no part in our God's
spiritual kingdom. We have no part. We deserve nothing
of our God's grace and mercy. Yet Christ, as mighty Judah,
looked upon his grieving brethren who were sorrowful and shamed
and weak and unable to gain that inheritance He encourages the
broken heart. He lifts up the head that is
shamed and heavy with sorrow. And he says to them, come up
with me, my brother, into my lot. And let's defeat our enemies. And I'll help you with your lot. I'll bring you into your lot.
And so Simeon went with him. And so our Lord, by his grace,
gives us faith and confidence to trust in our Lord. believing, knowing that he is
the mighty Savior and he shall not fail to fulfill all his promise
unto us undeserving sinners. And so what a gracious word of
promise is given to his brother and strengthening him and making
him a partaker of his joy. And we see how that even Christ
said as much when he came to John the Baptist to be baptized
of him and said, suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh
us to fulfill all righteousness. And we see how the Lord makes
us partakers in his victory and gainers of his inheritance with
him. We are like Simeon. We're like
that dying thief on the cross who, facing what he deserves,
being worthy of no mercy, being worthy of no recognition, cried
out to the Lord, being a mercy beggar, saying, Lord, remember
me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And the Lord turned
to him and said, this day shalt thou be with me in paradise. That's grace, grace doing for
us what we do not deserve. So you that believe on Christ,
you have a sure righteousness that cannot fail. You have a
more sure righteousness that cannot fail. You have an inheritance
prepared for you by the Son of God, who has given you his word,
who is mighty and strong and has defeated all our foes and
subdued the devil and crushed him. and brought us out from
his cruel reign and given us a more sure word of promise in
him. Believe him. Trust him. In John
14, 1 through 4, he tells us, let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and
the way ye know. Because the way is Christ, and
you know Him, and you believe Him, and you trust Him. And he's
coming again to bring you home to his inheritance with him,
just as he promised. Just as he promised. So take
courage, brethren, for Christ has taken you to himself and
defeated all your enemies and all your foes. In Colossians
3, verses 2 through 4, we read, because of Christ set your affection
on things above, not on things on the earth, for you're dead.
and your life is hid with Christ in God, just as Simeon was hid
with Judah in the land of Canaan. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory, in
glory, in that inheritance given to the saints of light. Now the
next thing we see is a type of our Lord defeating his people's
enemies. Look in Judges 1 verses 4 and
5. And Judah went up, and the Lord
delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand.
And they slew of them in Bezik ten thousand men. And they found
Adonai Bezik in Bezik, and they fought against him, and they
slew the Canaanites and the Perizzites." Now, we saw a picture of salvation
in Christ, with Judah promising to help Simeon secure his lot
within Judah's borders. Now here in verse four, we're
told who wins the victory for the children of God. It says,
and the Lord delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their
hand. And so all the peoples who were
driven out before Israel, who were driven out of the land,
off the land before Israel, that they might occupy it and take
it, Whether they're Canaanites and Perizzites or Jebusites,
or later on, they're the Philistines that we read about. There are
always pictures of sin in this flesh, in this heart. There are
always pictures of sin in our nature. And they must be defeated
and driven out by the Lord, by the Lord for his people. And
so in every case, brethren, any Every sin, every folly that our
Lord delivers us from, it's Him that does it. It's not our strength
that delivers us. It's not our resolve or will.
It's the grace of our God working in you. that which is well pleasing
in his sight. You may struggle with sin in
your flesh, and every one of us does. You may struggle and
see sin in your flesh, but all for whom Christ's blood was shed. Romans 8 says, the law of the
spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law
of sin and death. And what that verse is declaring
so beautifully to us is that the sin has no more authority
or dominion or power over you. Sin, like the Perizzites and
the various Canaanites and peoples that dwelt in the land for a
time, they may yet exist within your borders, but they hold no
more dominion over you. They don't determine your inheritance. Your God does. Whether you see
sin in your borders or not, it's God, through the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ, that has appointed unto you an inheritance. with Him. So you might see those
sins, but by the grace of God, they have no bearing, no authority
on either keeping you out or giving you an inheritance with
your God in Christ, because God has promised it and given it
to you in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have it because He has given
it to us. Christ has secured it. Christ
has secured it and given it to His brethren. And so you have
your lot within spiritual Judah. And you are entirely surrounded
and encompassed by the might and the power and the strength
and the glory of your greater, stronger brother, the Lord Jesus
Christ, even as Simeon was pictured being put in the tribe of Judah. So look to Christ. Don't look
to your sin. Put no confidence, nothing in
it. Abstain from fleshly lusts, which
war against the soul, but put no confidence in those things.
Trust your Lord. Seek him, seek his face, and
believe him. Now another gospel picture that
we see in this text is our Lord destroys the false gospel, that
false light that's in us. He destroys the false light bearer
that held his rule over us and Christ delivers us out from his
darkness. We see this pictured in the capture
and the death of Adonai Bezik in verses 6 and 7. So look at
Judges 1 verses 6 and 7. But Adonai Bezik fled, and they
pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and
his great toes. And Adonai Bezik said, three
score and ten kings. or 60 and 10, 70 kings, having
their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their
meat under my table. As I have done, so God hath requited
me, or paid me back with it, and they brought him to Jerusalem,
and there he died. And so Adonai Bezik, seeing that
he was defeated, his forces were defeated, he fled. He tried to get away. And this
cruel king was captured. And through divine providence,
because the Israelites didn't do this typically, but through
divine providence, they did to him what he had done to others
whom he had conquered. So Judah cut off his thumbs and
his great toes. Now, the purpose why Adonai Bezek
would do this to his captives, it was to weaken their hands
so that they could not fight. If they picked up a sword and
hit him with it, that sword would just fold back on themselves
before it would penetrate or hurt the one that they were assailing.
And to make their feet lame, he cut off their toes so that
they could not escape. They couldn't run or cut and
evade or get away because their feet were made lame. And what
it did was it made his captors completely dependent on the one
who had captured them. They were entirely dependent
on him for whatever he would give them. And it made them to
have an awful, terrible life of servitude. He would put them
under his table. And that's humiliating, to be
one who was once so high and mighty, a great person in the
esteem of his tribe or people, now having his thumbs removed
and his toes cut off, left to scround around under a table,
to be kicked by the guests of that Adonai Bezik, and to be
tortured in that way, and just treated shamefully in that way. Well, such are we under the rule
of the evil one before our Savior comes and sets us free. We're
the ones who are the fools. We're the ones who are treated
shamefully and left starving and beaten and and just left
for dead. Bezik means lightning, and Adonai
Bezik means Lord of lightning, or my Lord is lightning. And this lightning is a picture
of that fallen one, the devil, the evil one. And in Ephesians
2 verses 1 through 3, we're told that we were dead, and trespasses,
and sins. And verse 2 says, wherein in
time past ye walked, we walked, brethren, according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.
Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, in
the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others. We were dogs under his table,
eating husks and scraps of dead-letter religion that could not satisfy
us. But this wicked ruler that we
had, he was a false light. He pretended to be a light unto
us, all the while teaching us lies and falsehoods. And it says
in the scriptures that he blinds the minds of his captors. He
keeps them shut up to the light and glory of God so long as he
is able to do it. And he pretends himself to be
light, transforming himself as an angel of light, as Paul says
in 2 Corinthians 11-14. But he's not the true light that
cometh into the world. The Lord Jesus Christ alone is
the light bearer. He's the true light. He is salvation,
the salvation and the deliverer of his people. And so when our
Lord went to the cross, he overthrew all his enemies and all our foes. And he delivered us and took
us out from underneath that table of darkness, so that he put the
evil one on a leash. And he bound him so that he could
no longer deceive the nations as he had once done. Turn over
to Colossians 2. Colossians 2 verse 13 through
15. We see the evil one is now on
a leash. kept bound so that he cannot
do as he would do, but is only able to do what the Lord permits
him to do. And Colossians 2.13-15 shows
our great deliverance and the humbling of our foes and enemies. It says in Colossians 2.13, And
you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your
flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you
all trespasses. blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us. And he took it out of the way,
nailing it to his cross, so that we, being weak in the flesh and
unable to make a righteousness for ourselves by the law, we
were instead, we had been subject to that cruel one, the cruel,
evil reigning king, because we couldn't keep the law. We were
afraid and worried. as it says in Hebrews chapter
2, that we labored under fear of death, labored to try and
live ourselves and find peace for ourselves. But Christ, verse
15, Having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of
them openly. He made a public spectacle of
them, triumphing over them in it, so that Christ humiliated
and humbled our enemies and triumphed over them at the cross. When he delivered us, putting
away our sins, taking us out from that bondage, out from that
darkness, out from under the table, away from eating the scraps
and the things that cannot satisfy, he brought us into his family
and his kingdom. So that by his grace, he strengthened
our weak, incompetent hands. And he strengthened our ankles
and knees and our feet and gave us strength to walk the path
of life. Walk by faith in him who was
given of our God to bring us home to our inheritance. Our Lord keeps us well fed. The
Syrophoenician woman, the one who cried out for the Lord of
being a Greek, cried out that the Lord would heal her. and
asked for but crumbs which fall from the master's table to the
dogs. Asked him for but the crumb of grace to heal her daughter. She confessed she was a dog and
were made to do the same under her master's table. And she was
just happy for that little bit of crumb of grace. But the Lord
took her into his bosom, so to speak. and blessed her all the
more richly, not only answering her prayer, but giving her faith
and hope in the Lord himself. And so he brings his children
out from under the table. He doesn't keep us there, but
he sits us at the table as one of his own children, because
we are made, we are adopted into the beloved family of God, and
now have our place at his table, in his wedding feast where he
joins and gathers together with his people and he feeds us richly
and abundantly of his blessings and grace and mercy for his people. And it humbles us like Mephibosheth
who stood before David's throne. Mephibosheth being a descendant
of Saul who hated David and tried to kill David yet David showed
grace and mercy to undeserving Mephibosheth who bowed himself
and said to David, what is thy servant that thou shouldest look
upon such a dead dog as I am? And so this picture shows us
that Adonai Bezik, the old serpent, is captured and destroy. And he, by Christ, has been greatly
weakened, his thumbs being removed and his toes, his great toes
being removed. And ultimately, he's going to
die forever when our Lord returns and takes his people to himself
and brings us to heavenly Jerusalem. brings us home to him that'll
be the end of your foe forever just as Adonai Bezek died when
he was brought to Jerusalem until then Christ our King renews us,
and refreshes us, and strengthens us. Isaiah 40, 31. But they that
wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount
up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and
they shall walk and not faint. Your Lord keeps you well fed
with his gospel word. He feeds you and nourishes you
and strengthens the inner man whereby you are encouraged and
blessed and continue to hope in the righteousness of God in
the face of Jesus Christ. That's the gift of God to you,
brethren, to keep you ever looking to Christ. Now I'll close with
Isaiah 25, verses 6 through 9. Isaiah 25, 6 through 9. If you
want to turn there. Isaiah 25 6 And in this mountain
shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat
things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow,
of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain
the face of the covering cast over all people, that shame that
was over them. and the veil that is spread over
all nations. He will swallow up death and
victory, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all
faces. And the rebuke of his people
shall he take away from off all the earth, for the Lord hath
spoken him. And it shall be said in that
day, lo, this is our God. We have waited for him, and he
will save us. This is the Lord. we have waited
for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation. This, brethren, is the lot of
the righteous, which is given to you and your strong, mighty
brother, that picture being typified in Judah, the Lord Jesus Christ. So praise your God. Rejoice in
Him. He is so good to His people Israel. Amen. All right, brother, let's
close in prayer in him. Closing to him. Our gracious
Lord, we thank you, Father, for your grace. We thank you for such mercy which you've shown
to us in delivering us out from under that table of death and
misery, under the evil one's power. You brought us out and
gave us the true light in the face of Christ. And Lord, we
thank you for the tender, sweet view that we see of what our
Savior did for us, even as Judah turned to his brother Simeon
and said, come up with me into my lot. Oh, Lord, we're so thankful. And Lord, how you've blessed
us in coming into our lot and dwelling with us, even as you
dwell with your people by your spirit, making us a temple of
the living God that we may have fellowship and life and light
with our God. Lord, thank you for your many,
many abundant blessings. Too many for us to enumerate
and see all at once, but we see everything we need to see in
your Son, Jesus Christ. And we're so thankful, Lord,
that you lifted the veil of our hearts and removed the blindness
of our minds and made us to see the beauty of Christ, the strength
of Christ, the sufficiency of Christ, the blessing of our God
in Christ for us. Lord, thank you. Help us to continue
in him ever, to walk in love and in peace and in faith before
our God, to love one another, to be kind to one another, to
edify one another with words of encouragement and love, pointing
each other to Christ, reminding him of his grace, of your grace,
of our inheritance in you, Lord. Until you come again, keep our
hearts ever fixed in you. It's in Christ's name we pray
and give thanks. Amen. Let's all stand and sing a closing
hymn. 496. Victory in Jesus. 496. I heard an old, old story, how
a Savior came from glory, how He gave His life on Calvary to
save a wretch like me. I heard about His groaning, of
His precious blood atoning, Then I repented of my sins and won
the victory. O victory in Jesus, my Saviour
forever! He sought me and bought me with
His redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew him, and
all my love is due him. He plunged me to victory beneath
the cleansing flood. I heard about His healing, Of
His cleansing power revealing, How He made the lame to walk
again, And caused the blind to see. And then I cried, Dear Jesus,
come and heal my broken spirit. And somehow Jesus came and brought
to me the victory. Oh, victory in Jesus, my Savior
forever. He sought me and bought me with
His redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew Him, and
all my love is to Him. He plunged me to victory beneath
the cleansing flood. I heard about a mansion He has
built for me in glory. And I heard about the streets
of gold beyond the crystal sea. About the angels singing, and
the old redemption story, And some sweet day I'll sing up there
the song of victory. O victory in Jesus, my Saviour
forever! He sought me and bought me with
His redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew Him, and
all my love is to Him. He plunged me to victory beneath
the cleansing flood.